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Not-so-happy meal: McDonald’s satisfaction lags

Bruce Horowitz, USA Today;
11:14 p.m. CDT June 21, 2014

McDonald’s ranked last in customer satisfaction in a national survey of patrons of 12 major fast-food chains for the 20th straight year, but one researcher says there’s a silver lining: It’s closing the gap with the rest of the industry.
(Photo:
Vincent Yu/AP
)

For the 20th year in a row, McDonald’s ranks dead last in customer satisfaction in a national survey of patrons of 12 major fast-food chains by the American Customer Satisfaction Index.

Papa John’s and Pizza Hut tied for first place — where Papa John’s has ranked for three consecutive years. Two other pizza chains, Domino’s and Little Caesars, tied for third place.

But after three years of better numbers, McDonald’s customer satisfaction fell 2.7 percent from a year ago. The good news: McDonald’s satisfaction is up nearly 13 percent from when the annual survey began 20 years ago.

“McDonald’s has gone from being way lower than the nearest competitor to within striking distance of the rest of the industry,” said Forrest Morgeson, director of research at ACSI.

The survey of 4,572 customers, chosen at random and contacted via phone and email, was done Jan. 13 to March 11.

McDonald’s says it takes the results seriously. “We always listen to our customers and appreciate hearing feedback from them ... as it helps us improve and evolve,” spokeswoman Lisa McComb said in a statement.

Why can’t McDonald’s break out? “With size comes a much more diverse group of customers,” Morgeson said. “As your customers get more diverse, it gets more difficult to satisfy them all.”

Another reason: McDonald’s biggest fans typically are kids, not the adults ages 18 and up in the survey, Morgeson noted. Several other familiar chains took hits in the survey: